Would I be making a huge mistake by moving to Hastings?

VioletBaudelaire

pawpurrs wrote: »

I live between Tunbridge wells and Hastings and know the area extremley well. Chavs are everywhere, and actually on the whole, I find the people of hastings more friendly and polite than those of Tunbridge wells, you do have to pick the right area in Both of those towns though. There are some lovely villages on the train line, have you considered that?
What sort of house, are you after, whats your budget and how much do you have to spend, what about work?
@ Dan totally disagree Rye and Camber really has its fair share of Chavs and in camber they are full of them in the campsites in the summer.

Well, I was considering places I was already familiar with, and I don't know all the villages. As I said it my original post, I'm checking out Winchelsea and Fairlight tomorrow. I do know Winchelsea a bit already.
I'd only live in the Old Town area in Hastings. It's so cheap there, there don't seem to be any very expensive houses! I'd prefer detached though, because of potential neighbour noise.

VioletBaudelaire

22225 wrote: »

I spent part of my childhood in Hastings and it was run down even then. It has a big reputation for drugs, asylum seekers and people who needed a lot of social help. I think it has been like that for a long time, it's because it's quite cheap and on the train line. Family friends who still live there say there's no work or only very low paid work. I know it's lovely to think of having a house rather than a flat, but I think peace of mind is the most important thing and this may make location more important than the size of the property. obs if you have kids you need the space. Brighton seems better but more expensive. Tun wells got good shops, you could get a 2 bed terrace for under £200 k? also like others have said there's battle. don't know about robertsbridge but that's on the same line. however i don't really understand what your criteria is, where do you need to commute to?

I don't need to commute to anywhere! I want to live either in the country or by the sea. I know T Wells pretty well and it's too big for me, I like small places. I have a friend who moved from Battle (to Glastonbury) and he has lots of bad things to say about Battle!)

VioletBaudelaire

Mum_of_3 wrote: »

I was going to tell you about how useless Glastonbury shops are (although there is a lovely organic supermarket where Woolworths used to be), but it seems like you've done your homework

Glastonbury does have it's charms and there is a close knit community there. At the end of the day if you are contemplating moving to Glastonbury then you're probably right for the area as it's a very individual place.

I've no idea what you do for a living, but if you need to work, please be aware that there are hardly any decent jobs being advertised here at the moment (I live in Mendip too). So my advice to you would be, if you need to work then job-hunt at the same time as house-hunt.

Also, have you thought about places such as Sherborne, Castle Cary, Chew Magna or Wedmore? They are all definitely not chavvy (although I don't think anywhere in the UK is Chav-free) and have easy access to the countryside.

Good luck with your hunt.

M_o_3

Thankyou! I have been staying in both places and made lots of new friends in Sussex and Somerset, but of course, all the Glastonbury people say "you mst move here" and the Hastings people think I should move there, so not really unbiased opinions!
I don't know all those other places. As I said, I settled for two places I'm familiar with to choose from. I know there are loads of lovely places to live, but I can't visit alll of them. I've visited dozens of areas in the last few years while I was waiting to buy the freehold of my flat, get lease extensions etc, so I've had a long time to look. There are lots of places I liked, but couldn't imagine actually living there.

Norma_Desmond

Why limit yourself to these areas?
Selling up in Camden would probably give you a huge range of places to choose from in Pembrokeshire for example, although we are VERY remote!

We chose to buy here for peace, the beauty of the landscape, the amazing coastline, real community spirit and the lowest crime rate in England and Wales......we have a couple of 'hoodies', but one's our paper boy and he's actually rather sweet.

VioletBaudelaire

moneysavingplumber wrote: »

Both of my brothers moved to Hastings in the late '80s as it was much cheaper than our locality which was Tonbridge. They both seem to like it, one lives off of Harold Road near the Old Town, the other nearer the top on Park Crescent. Plenty going on and quite arty. Interesting that you've chosen Hastings and not Brighton, which is most people's choice of South Coast dream home town.

I don't like Brighton, it's too much like London! Hastings is smaller, but what draws me is the architecture of the Old Town, the artists community, and the cliff walks.

VioletBaudelaire

Thankyou very much to all those who've posted with knowledge of Hastings (and Glastonbury) I do appreciate it.

leveller2911

Dan: wrote: »

but you do have the nearby villages of Rye and Camber which are lovely, esp in the summer.

Rye is ok, Camber is a pox hole, Summer and Winter.In Winter its a desolate ghost Town and in Summer its full of chavs.The local in general are fine apart from the smallish minority of yobs....Oh and not forgetting the hours spent cleaning the sand out of your car each week.....Like others have said Chavs are nationwide...

leveller2911

VioletBaudelaire wrote: »

Thankyou for replying Dan. Are you referring to Hastings as a whole, or just the new bit (I know that's not terribly salubrious) Have you ever lived there?
I know Rye very well, plenty of chavs there too, I'm afraid and not so many useful shops. It's certainly not what it was in EF Benson's day (or even in the days of Monica Edwards and Malcolm Saville)

LOL very true, Rye has some great people and real old characters too.It is suffering from a lack of decent shops unless you spend all your time drinking coffee or looking for collectables.......Its also got more than its fair share of people who move from London etc, who have made their fortune and reitred to the "Ancient Town or Rye" who then do everything in their power to stop any change which might take the town forward into the 21st Century....Shocking really, its not a dig at you Violet just those who move in and try to keep the Town how they perceive it should look, have lots of spare time to get on the Councils,set up conservation Societies etc.....

Moving on , have you thought about Peasmarsh ? Iden? or Northiam?

davsidipp

i like hastings visit their on a regular basis and yes there are some rough people mainly the back of the shopping centre but im sure you get them in london i live in se9 some people here are chavs so there every where.we was looking a while back at hastings and noticed houses prices have shotup still cheaper than here but maybe thats a good thing anyway good luck if you do find somewhere in hastings its not that bad.

VioletBaudelaire

Thanks Leveller. I've been to all those places (only very briefy though), but haven't given them a lot of thought (I've heard negative things about Northiam though. I know someone who lives in Peasmarsh)
The thing is, since I don't drive, I do need to be fairly near some amenities, and I definitely need a doctor and hospital fairly near, so that's something I have to consider.